This is a budget road trip,
remember? And you can’t show up empty-handed to a friend’s place to crash. You
know yourself and you know your friend – what will it cost you in real bucks to
stay with the friend? A dinner out? A bottle of wine? A pound of the coffee you
know he loves? Whatever it is, you need to factor it in to your budget. Maybe
it will work, maybe it won’t. But read on because money isn’t necessarily the
biggest consideration.

Administrative
overhead

Planning time. Staying at a friend's place
requires a little or a lot of advance preparation to make sure your schedules
mesh, not the least of which is your projected arrival time in his city.

Face time with friend. Do you just want to get
to the friend's house, chat a bit, crash, then get on the road early the next
morning? If yes, will that be possible with the friend? Or will you need to
invest time socializing late into the night or for a large portion of the
following day?

Getting to the friend’s place. If you've got a
friend who lives "in" St. Louis, does this mean s/he's within a few
minutes of your route or is she actually 20 miles south of St. Louis, where
you'll traverse various highways, then two bumper-to-bumper arterials, til you
finally get to that side street where the friend lives? And then repeat it all
the next day, hoping to miss the worst of the morning rush?

White Sands Motel, Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing means that you're
crashing at a stranger's house, who's agreed to put you up for the night, no
charge. (Here
are some couchsurfing etiquette tips.)

Personality

For those of us who are social creatures, what a
terrific concept! Meet new people. Get the insider's view of the
city.

It's not for all of us, though. For example, I'm
an introvert and I like to be able to escape to my cave. The idea of having to
be "on" for an evening or longer with a stranger does not relax me.

Some couchsurfing hosts offer private rooms;
some don't. Weigh your privacy needs with what prospective hosts have to offer
and the cost of alternative lodging.

Administrative overhead

If any of the following is a factor with a particular host,
then couchsurfing may not be worth the hassle for you:

1.Complicated, drawn-out negotiations or
instructions related to the lodging, whatever the type.

2.Lots of rules.

3.Having to deviate too far from my main route to
get to the lodging.

Safety

Although there are ways to mitigate the safety risk
of couchsurfing, your personal risk threshold may just be too low to allow for
couchsurfing. In that case, pass on it. A road trip is about fun, not self-imposed stress.

Comfort

When you're couchsurfing, you're at someone's house, not a
hotel. The housekeeping might not meet your tolerance threshold. Maybe the
hosts have cats and you're allergic. Or you're not allergic, but the litter box
smells. Or the host's place is right next to the airport.

You don't go into a couchsurfing place completely blind, but
there are limits to what you know up front.

Frontier Motel, Cuba, New Mexico.

Sleeping in the car

Yes, I've done this.

In none of those cases did I plan to sleep in the car. It
just worked out that way because:

I drove so late that I became too tired to
drive any further to a hotel

I couldn't find a hotel

The hotel I did find was scarier than the
prospect of sleeping in my car

The hotels in the area were just too
expensive

Once, my brother and I drove into an empty campground in
France and slept in the car there. It was spooky. The trees were leafless and
had been topped. They looked like headless creatures. A fog permeated the
grounds. It was a veritable vampire attractant.

In at least two cases, I slept in well-lit interstate rest
areas. The advantage of a rest area is flush toilets and potable water. Plus
I've found there is sufficient incoming/outgoing traffic to ensure I'm not
alone for long ... 'course, that's a potential disadvantage, as well.

In this roadtripamerica
thread are suggestions for other possibles: truck-stop parking lots,
hospital parking lots, and hotel parking lots. Not saying they're good
suggestions, just suggestions. An excellent resource I gleaned from this thread
was Free Campsites, which points you to
free campsites (including the parking lots of some stores, where you could
car-sleep) all over the U.S.

Extremely economical in time and hassle. Pull in, sleep, and
pull out. No advance planning. No socializing.

Safety

Concerns about safety may rule this option out for many
travelers. If you're traveling with someone else, you may be more comfortable
with it.

Personality

Privacy.
There really is no privacy when you're sleeping in your vehicle, unless you
have a vehicle in which you can cover the windows. To achieve privacy, you can
pull your vehicle over to a secluded area that draws no traffic, but that may
also make you more vulnerable to attack.

Comfort

Sleep.
If I'm sleeping in my car, I'm likely to have a lighter sleep than if I were in
a more traditional place.

Hygiene. If I'm at a rest area, I can wash my
face and brush my teeth, use a flush toilet, and wash my hands with soap. If I
sleep in a place with no facilities, then I will still do OK, because I will
have packed a jug of water and at least waterless soap and have a washcloth and
hand towel. And toilet paper. Good to go. I don't want to do that every day,
but once in awhile, no problem.

Anasazi Inn outside Kayenta, Arizona.

Camping

Money

If I camp, it's likely I'll pay less than $20 for a campsite
per night. That assumes non-electric sites, which is a vanishing category in
many campgrounds. (On the other hand, camping in some Bureau of Land
Management and other lands is free!) The longer my road trip is, the more
attractive camping becomes in my lodging plan.

2.It may take considerable time to drive from your
main route to the campground, up to an hour, depending not only on distance,
but road conditions. (Driving a switchback up a mountain is slow work even on a
well-paved road.)

3.Checking in takes time.

4.Selecting a campsite takes time.

5.Unless you really go bare bones on the camping
bit (sleeping in your car and not cooking), there's a hassle in that you have
to pack more gear that takes up more space in your vehicle - a tent, sleeping
bag(s), cook stove, gas, lantern, etc.

Safety

Assuming you're in a campground, and you don't do something
completely stupid, like rub yourself with hamburgers before you turn in for
the night in bear country, camping is very safe.

Personality

Privacy.
With some exception, privacy is not much of a concern, unless you've got the
rare situation of loud neighbors.

Campfire! It's pretty hard to beat the good time
of poking a fire with a stick.

Comfort

Sleep.
If you awaken with each noise outside your tent thinking it might be a bear or
a mountain lion or a Deliverance-style local, then you might have a more
relaxed time in a motel. You want to have fun on your trip - not feel
anxious.

Hygiene.
There may or may not be showers. Or flush toilets. You'll need to have a water
container and your own soap.

Buffalo Inn, Canyon, Texas.

Motel

I have a different standard for a motel where I'll stay only one night versus
one I'll stay in for multiple nights. For one night, I can overlook
charmlessness in exchange for cost savings.

A good-enough budget motel has:

Clean sheets

Floor that is clean enough that my feet won’t
get dirty walking on it

Clean bathroom, even if it’s not been updated
since the 1960s

Shower that works

TV that works

Free wireless

Secure door and windows

Air conditioner that works

An ice machine somewhere on the premises

I don't care if it has a free breakfast, although sometimes
this is nice. I like a coffee maker in the room, but I’ve learned to bring
one with me on a road trip, as I’ve discovered a lot of locally-owned budget
motels don’t provide an in-room machine.

Money

1.On a road trip, budget motel means $70 or less
to me. I strive for $50. Sometimes I can't get under $70, but usually I can

2."Free" breakfasts. Given a choice
between a $50 hotel room without a "free" breakfast and a $60 or
higher motel with, I'll select the $50 motel. The vast majority of time, the
"free" breakfast is unsatisfying. I do better having breakfast out of
my small cooler or by stopping at a restaurant and getting exactly what I want
for the same price or less than the "free" breakfast. Another thing
to consider is that if you intend to get back on the road before 6 a.m., that
"free" breakfast won't even be set up yet.

3.Discounts. In most cases, the AAA, AARP, and
government discount rates are the same. Sometimes the government (or military)
rates are lower. An AAA is a good investment, anyway, in the event of car
trouble.

4.Frequent sleeper plans. If you travel a lot for
work, become a "frequent sleeper" member of one or two hotel chains
with a large family of hotel brands. Both Marriott and Hilton have a nice
continuum of budget through upscale brands. You do especially well if you
usually stay at the higher-end brand for work and then use your free-stay
points on the economical brands in the "hotel family" during vacation
road trips.

5.Be willing to do some footwork. When I swing
into a town that has several motels, I'll gravitate to the one I think will
meet all of my criteria first. But if the price is too high, I won't hesitate
to:

Before I had a smart phone: Drive to other
choices and check ‘em out

Now that I have a smart phone: Do online
research on the fly, and call the motels to check their rates.

Administrative overhead

Other than sleeping in your vehicle, a motel stay is the
most economical of your time. Other than check-in, there's no set up,
and you leave as early as you want the next morning.

Safety

If I'm by myself, and if the neighborhood feels a little
sketchy, I ask for a room on the second floor.

Has some form of shared space, such as the
sleeping room (i.e. dorm), bathrooms, kitchen, or living areas

One generally finds in locations that draw high
tourist traffic, whether that's an urban (NYC) or rural setting (i.e. the Abominable Snowmansion near
Taos)

Other than the above features, I wouldn't want to pigeonhole
hostels as serving a particular age, socio-economic, educational, cultural or
travel-style demographic. However, some hostels do have age ceilings, so if
you’re over 30, check for that when you look into potential sites.

A lot of hostels do offer private rooms, which can be an
economical way to go if you’re done with the backpacking experience. Check the
fine print, though: Often the price quoted is per person, with a two-person
minimum.

In general, hostels
don’t figure much into USA road trips unless you’ve got a popular tourist city
on your itinerary. Sometimes the hostels cost more than what you’d pay for a
motel that’s in the outskirts (and where you’re likely to enjoy free
parking).

Leroy Percy State Park cabin, Hollandale, Mississippi.

Airbnb and the like

Airbnb has grown like mad since I first wrote about it five
years ago. Some entrepreneurs buy properties for the sole purpose of letting
rooms via airbnb. In such cases, the owner does not live on the premises, and sometimes
two strangers are sharing a house with little or no face-to-face contact with
the property owner.

For the most part, my airbnb experiences have been good ones.
A host's drive to get a good guest rating, however, can result in tiresome pressure
to: a) give a rating, and b) give a five-level rating.

Generally speaking, airbnb differs from
couchsurfing in these respects:

You will pay a fee for an airbnb acccommodation;
couchsurfing is free.

You’ll have a private bedroom and an actual bed
with airbnb, whereas with couchsurfing you might be sleeping in the living room
on an actual couch. Note: Some hostels use airbnb to advertise and in these
cases, you may only have a bunk in a shared room.

The airbnb host is less likely to be your best
new friend than a couchsurfing host. And this makes sense – an airbnb host
wants to supplement his income in a pleasant way, while a couch host’s main
driver is to meet and interact with interesting people.

Airbnb and couchsurfing are alike in these respects:

There is mutual vetting/ratings for hosts and
guests, which helps keep the process safe for all parties (although this is not
foolproof).

The hosts are often quite interesting in a good
way! Also, with airbnb, fellow guests
are almost always interesting.

Money

On a road trip, where
I’m just passing though, the only reason for me to use an airbnb instead of a
motel is the lower cost. If I can’t find an airbnb with a room significantly
less than a motel, than I’d much rather stay in a motel. And that’s the beauty
of airbnb – most of the time, it is less expensive than a motel.

Administrative overhead

There’s not a lot of administrative overhead to booking a
room on airbnb. But:

Read the host’s fine print about his
cancellation policies, his house rules, and any fee add-ons.

Look carefully at what amenities are and are not
available.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions before pulling the
trigger on the booking, such as alignment between a room’s readiness and your
anticipated arrival time.

Safety

There are a few scary stories out there, but that holds true
for motels, camping, and anything else. In general, an airbnb is very safe. Read
the reviews the host received from past guests. Respect the vibe you get from a
host before you confirm a reservation.

Personality

I have always felt comfortable bowing out of any social
interaction at an airbnb. Hosts understand that you want to do what you want to
do, and they leave you alone to do it.

Comfort

I’ve been sufficiently comfortable at all of the airbnbs I’ve
used. I’m not crazy about having to share a bathroom if I’m in a house, but
that’s tolerable for a short term.

Conclusion

So there you have it - we've got several lodging options on a road trip. What you choose depends on your budget, disposable time you have available on your trip, your tolerance for administrative overhead, your personality, and comfort needs.